A study of b quark hadronisation is presented using inclusively reconstructed B hadrons in about four million hadronic Z decays recorded in 1992-2000 with the OPAL detector at LEP. The data are compared to different theoretical models, and fragmentation function parameters of these models are fitted. The average scaled energy of weakly decaying B hadrons is determined to be <xe>=0.7193+-0.0016(stat)+0.0036-0.0031(syst)
Charged particle momentum distributions are studied in the reaction e+e- -> hadrons, using data collected with the OPAL detector at centre-of-mass energies from 192 GeV to 209 GeV. The data correspond to an average centre-of- mass energy of 201.7 GeV and a total integrated luminosity of 433 pb-1. The measured distributions and derived quantities, in combination with corresponding results obtained at lower centre-of-mass energies, are compared to QCD predictions in various theoretical approaches to study the energy dependence of the strong interaction and to test QCD as the theory describing it. In general, a good agreement is found between the measurements and the corresponding QCD predictions.
Di-jet producion is studied in collisions of quasi-real photons at e+e- centre- of-mass energies sqrt(s)ee from 189 to 209 GeV at LEP. The data were collected with the OPAL detector. Jets are reconstructed using an inclusive k_t clustering algorithm for all cross-section measurements presented. A cone jet algorithm is used in addition to study the different structure of the jets resulting from either of the algorithms. The inclusive di-jet cross-section is measured as a function of the mean transverse energy Etm(jet) of the two leading jets, and as a functiuon of the estimated fraction of the photon momentum carried by the parton entering the hard sub-process, xg, for different regions of Etm (jet). Angular distribution in di-jet events are measured and used to demonstrate the dominance of quark and gluon initiated processes in different regions of phase space. Furthermore the inclusive di-jet cross-section as a function of |eta(jet)| and |delta eta (jet)| is presented where eta(jet) is the jet pseudo-rapidity. Different regions of the xg+ -xg- -space are explored to study and control the influence of an underlying event. The results are compared to next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and to the predictions of the leading order Monte Carlo generator PYTHIA.
DELPHI results are presented on the inclusive production of the neutral mesons ρ 0 , f 0 (980), f 2 (1270), K ∗0 2 (1430) and f ′ 2 (1525) in hadronic Z 0 decays. They are based on about 2 million multihadronic events collected in 1994 and 1995, using the particle identification capabilities of the DELPHI Ring Imaging Cherenkov detectors and measured ionization losses in the Time Projection Chamber. The total production rates per hadronic Z 0 decay have been determined to be: 1.19±0.10 for ρ 0 ; 0.164±0.021 for f 0 (980); 0.214±0.038 for f 2 (1270); 0.073±0.023 for K ∗0 2 (1430) ; and 0.012±0.006 for f ′ 2 (1525). The total production rates for all mesons and differential cross-sections for the ρ 0 , f 0 (980) and f 2 (1270) are compared with the results of other LEP experiments and with models.
Production of Sigma- and Lambda(1520) in hadronic Z decays has been measured using the DELPHI detector at LEP. The Sigma- is directly reconstructed as a charged track in the DELPHI microvertex detector and is identified by its Sigma -> n pi decay leading to a kink between the Sigma- and pi-track. The reconstruction of the Lambda(1520) resonance relies strongly on the particle identification capabilities of the barrel Ring Imaging Cherenkov detector and on the ionisation loss measurement of the TPC. Inclusive production spectra are measured for both particles. The production rates are measured to be <N_{Sigma-}/N_{Z}^{had}> = 0.081 +/- 0.002 +/- 0.010, <N_{Lambda(1520)}/N_{Z}^{had}> = 0.029 +/- 0.005 +/- 0.005. The production rate of the Lambda(1520) suggests that a large fraction of the stable baryons descend from orbitally excited baryonic states. It is shown that the baryon production rates in Z decays follow a universal phenomenological law related to isospin, strangeness and mass of the particles.
A measurement of the Δ ++ (1232) inclusive production in hadronic decays of the Z at LEP is presented, based on 1.3 million hadronic events collected by the DELPHI detector in the 1994 LEP running period. The DELPHI ring imaging Cherenkov counters are used for identifying hadrons. The average Δ ++ (1232) multiplicity per hadronic event is 0.079 ± 0.015 which is more than a factor of two below the JETSET, HERWIG and UCLA model predictions. It agrees with a recently proposed universal mass dependence of particle production rates in e + e − annihilations.
The transverse, longitudinal and asymmetric components of the fragmentation function are measured from the inclusive charged particles produced in$e^+e^-$collisi
The hadronic fragmentation functions of the various quark flavours and of gluons are measured in a study of the inclusive hadron production from Z 0 decays with the DELPHI detector and are compared with the fragmentation functions measured elsewhere at energies between 14 GeV and 91 GeV. A large scaling violation is observed, which is used to extract the strong coupling constant from a fit using a numerical integration of the second order DGLAP evolution equations. The result is α s ( M Z ) = 0.124 −0.007 +0.006 (exp) ± 0.009(theory) where the first error represents the experimental uncertainty and the second error is due to the factorization and renormalization scale dependence.
The inclusive production of the neutral vector mesons K*0(892) and ϕ(1020), and of the tensor meson ${⤪ K}_{2}^{⇒t 0}(1430)$, in hadronic decays of the Z has been measured by the DELPHI detector at LEP. The average production rates per hadronic Z decay have been determined to be 0.77 ± 0.08 K*0(892), 0.104 ± 0.008 ϕ(1020) and ${⤪ K}_{2}^{⇒t 0}(1430)$. The ratio of the tensor-to-vector meson production yields, $«ngle {⤪ K}_{2}^{⇒t 0}(1430)»ngle$, is smaller than the 〈f2(1270)〉/〈ρ0(770)〉 and $«ngle f_{2}^{⌕ime}(1525)»ngle$ ratios measured by DELPHI. The production rates and differential cross sections are compared with the predictions of JETSET 7.4 tuned to the DELPHI data and of HERWIG 5.8. The K*0(892) and ϕ(1020) data are compatible with model predictions, but a large disagreement is observed for the ${⤪ K}_{2}^{⇒t 0}(1430)$.
An analysis of inclusive production of K0 and the meson resonances K*±(892), ρ0(770),f0(975) andf2(1270) in hadronic decays of the Z0 is presented, based on about 973,000 multihadronic events collected by the DELPHI detector at LEP during 1991 and 1992. Overall multiplicities have been determined as 1.962±0.060 K0 mesons, 0.712±0.067 K*±(892) and 1.21±0.15ρ0(770) per hadronic Z0 decay. The average multiplicities off0(975) for scaled momentum,xp, in the range 0.05≤xp≤0.6 and off2(1270) for 0.05≤xp≤1.0 are 0.098±0.016 and 0.170±0.043 respectively. Thef0(975) and ρ0(770)xp-spectra have similar shapes. Thef2(1270)/ρ0(770) ratio increases withxp. The average multiplicities and the differential cross sections are compared with the JETSET Parton Shower model. The model with default parameters fails to reproduce the experimental K0 momentum spectrum at low momentum, describes the K*±(892) and ρ0(770)xp-spectrum shapes, but significantly overestimates their production rates.
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